Facing the realities of nuclear weaponsーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
80 years ago during the final days of World War II, the United States dropped atomic bombs here and on Nagasaki. I’ll be bringing you a special edition of the program from both cities until Friday. At 8:15 a.m. on August 6th, 1945, a USB 29 bomber dropped a single atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It exploded about 600 m above the center of the city. The force and heat of the blast caused widespread devastation. By the end of the year, an estimated 140,000 people had died. Many of those who survived would suffer from cancer and other diseases related to radiation exposure. Today we will focus on why it’s still so important to learn about the reality of what happened here. This brick building behind me, now known as the atomic bomb dome, was only about 160 m from ground zero. It serves as a symbol of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. You can see many visitors of various nationalities here and they are here to confront the reality of the atomic bombing. Here in Hiroshima, I’ve met an American whose life changed after learning more about his family’s connection to that tragedy 80 years ago. It took him on a journey of facing up to hard facts and discovering what he can do for peace. Hi, Irene. Hey, it’s Reena. Ari Bessa is in Hiroshima for this week’s anniversary. How do you feel? The 37year-old has a very personal connection to the city and the events of August 1945. His grandfather Jacob was part of the US military at the time and was the only person to fly on both planes that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ari grew up surrounded by stories of how his granddad had helped end the war. I asked him how he felt back then. I was always curious about it because like a lot of people don’t get to hear what their grandfather did in the textbooks and in in the stories. So, I could actually read history books to feel connected to my own grandfather. How do you feel if your grandfather ended a war? You think, “Oh, that’s a good thing that he ended a war.” After Jacob died, Ari had an opportunity to meet Ahibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor living in US. That lit a spark for Ari, inspiring him to learn the other side of the story. He decided to visit Japan to meet more survivors and better grasp what they went through. When you listen to atomic bomb survivor testimony, it’s exhausting and terrible to hear what has happened. Like it’s an unimaginable thing. I’m really grateful that the survivors love me. I’ve never really had a negative encounter. It’s only been positive because I believe that they understand my intention is to carry on their story. Hearing the testimonies of the Hibakusha here in Hiroshima set Ari on a path that’s become a lifelong mission ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Through his journey of meeting Hibakusha, he eventually heard about a man who had survived the atomic bombs in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ari met the man’s granddaughter, Harada Kosuzu, to find out more about their shared past, but it wasn’t easy. At first, I honestly wondered what Ari wanted from me. If it were the other way around, I would never have wanted to meet him. I had mixed feelings about it. But I understood that he would probably understand that. And so he came to see me. Over 12 years, I revisited Japan almost every year to understand her, hoping she would understand him, too. Gradually, they came to realize that their grandfathers had been swept up by forces out of their control. [Music] Last month, with the 80th anniversary approaching, they published a book about their grandfathers, the true story of two men who were enemies. anyone. The title is from above and below both mushroom clouds we became friends. Is something deeper. What we can do is to let everyone know the stories of what happened above and below the mushroom cloud. So I hope we can continuously share that with the world. The big reason why I wrote the book was just to give a human perspective of the crew. I think it’s important because we’re all people in the end of the day. and Ari joined us now. So Ari, great to have you with us today. Thanks for having me. So I can imagine um it was a hard to reconcile um the stories you’d heard about your grandfather when you were young with the stories you heard here from Hibakusha. How did you feel then? Well, I mean, it’s always difficult to hear the stories of such kind people that they tell you with this terrible things that they saw on August 6th and 9th. Um, you know, I think for me, I was just really grateful to be able to give that chance and and I felt a lot of responsibility to be able to listen deeply and convey those stories to people. So, did you feel privileged to hear those stories? I think everybody who hears those stories feel privileged. It mean they’re such a precious time to be able to have that. I mean, we’re we’re losing the survivors almost daily. I mean, the people that I met, half of them have already gone by now. And listen to the testimonies, did it change you? What kind of impression did you receive from that? Yeah, I think anyone would change from hearing such a incredible record of history. Being able to capture that and and and being able to convey that to people, I think that’s been the hard work. You make sure that it’s so hard to understand. And I mean it was unimaginable just the scale of it all, the devastation of it all. But they carry that with them and so they asked that we carry it too and that’s the work. Mhm. Mhm. Um it’s the the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing and um the threat of a nuclear weapon is getting bigger and bigger nowadays. And um given your family history, do you think you have a special um specific role to take today? You know, I think I’m not unique in the sense that I a lot of people I’ve connected with have a really strong family history as as you probably have heard, but I think the fact that we get to work together and actually convey something from a deep divide and become friends, I think that’s what gives me hope. And you know, the world is moving to a scary place, but also I have hope for denuclearization. I think our president has said that he wants to have denuclearization talks. So, I encourage that. Mhm. Do you think as an American um it’s a country which dropped atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? As an American, do you think you have a special role? I think um I have a unique position in history. Obviously, my grandfather was the only man on both of the airplanes, but that alone doesn’t make me qualified. I have I’ve had to do a lot of work. I’ve had to learn storytelling. I’ve had to meet a lot of people. And I’ve had to make sure I I do their stories justice because in the end of the day, we have to make sure people really understand what happens when a nuclear weapon is dropped because as they say, history repeats if you don’t learn from it. But with a nuclear war, there’s no undoing that. There’s no going backwards from there. So we can’t let that happen again. And by coming to Japan, you met Kosuzu. Yeah. And you guys are working together to to abolish the nuclear weapon. Yeah. Why is it so important to have this kind of dialogue between you two and put the message across? Well, as I said, I mean, the divide is pretty scary. I think we’re all feeling a little bit afraid about how things are going. But I think that the thing I’ve learned the most is that through some of the darkest moments in history, some of the biggest divides, anyone can find a way to get along if the two of us can. And I think that maybe we’re just one small step, but everybody else, it’s not unique. Anyone can face history. Anyone can go to a place where they think it could be complicated. If they go with the intention to listen and to convey what happened, you’d be surprised at what people would tell you. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Ari. Knowing and understanding what happened in the past is a step to avoid repeating the same mistakes again. By doing so, we can learn how to face the challenges of today and prepare for those to come. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. I’ll be broadcasting live again from here to share the thoughts of the survivors and see how the city commemorates the victims 80 years on.
As Hiroshima and Nagasaki mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings, we look at why it’s still so important to learn about what really happened. #japan #hiroshima #usa #politics
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